Adjustably mounted shovels for cultivators



April 24, 1956 E. c. REDETZKE 2,742,843

ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED SHOVELS FOR CULTIVATORS Original Filed Sept. 9, 19462 Sheets-Sheet l [are/z for [meg C Eeaetzic,

wwdazw April 24, 1956.- E. c. REDETZKE 2,742,843

ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED SHOVELS FOR CULTIVATORS Original Filed Sept. 9, 19462 Sheets-Sheet 2 Snag [/ZVCIZ for 5/1165/ 6. Pcdflzlc, 91W

United States Patent" ice p ,1 56

ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED SHOVELS FOR CULTIVATORS Emery C. Redetzke, RockIsland, 111., assignor to J. I. Case Company, Racine, Wis., acorporation of Wisconsin Original application September 9, 1946, SerialNo. 695,764, now Patent No. 2,634,665, dated April 14, 1953. Divided andthis application August 18, 1952, Serial No. 304,864

3 Claims. c1. 97-198) This invention relates to a spring-controlledshovel mount for cultivators.

In the cultivation of soil it frequently happens that obstructions areencountered by the shovels or steels. Injury of a shovel or steel islikely to result unless it is retracted as the cultivator continues itsforward movement.

The main objects'of this invention, therefore, are to provide animproved spring-controlled mounting for cultivator shovels which permitsthe retraction of a shovel upon its engagement with an obstructionlikely otherwise to cause injury to the shovel; to provide an improvedmounting of this kindwhich promptly returns the shovel to its operatingposition once the obstruction has been passed; to provide an improvedconstruction of this kind which permits the principal parts to be madeof welded stampings; and to provide an improved shovel mounting of thiskind which is very simple in construction, which can be attached to anycultivator frame, and which is positive in operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simplified adjustingmeans between the shovel-carrying portion and the support portions in anapparatus of the type described.

A preferred embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of this improved springcontrolledshovel-mount, showing in full line the shovel in its normal operative.position below the ground level, and in dotted outline the position towhich it is retract able by an obstruction extending to the groundlevel;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of this improved springcontrolledshovel-mount in its normal, operative position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional detail taken on the line 44 of Fig. vl;

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on the line 5--S of the Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a similar view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings comprises asupporting post or stalf 8, a cultivator shovel 9, and means 10 forsupporting the shovel 'on the statf 8. The shovel is yieldingly held inits normal operating position by means of a stabilizer or trip mechanism11, and the shovel isretractable from this position if and when itstrikes an obstruction that might cause injury thereto, or to thecultivator. The angularity of the shovel 9 relative to the stall 8 andthe shovelsupporting rneansnltl is determined by an'adjustment means'12.

The. supporting post or staff 8 is of cylindrical form and .is adaptedto be attached to a cultivator frame. The lovver end of the post isflattened to provide a shank13 and a slot 14 is provided inthe shank.The slot 14 as will be apparent from Figs. 1 and 3, is dis- 2 posed at aslight angle to the axis of the supporting post 8 and is adapted toreceive a pin 15 which constitutes a part of the shovel supporting means10.

The shovel 9 comprises a pair of generally parallel,

forwardly curving bars 16 connected together at their lower ends andcarrying a suitable tool 17, the bars 16 being pivoted at their upperends to the shovel-supporting means 10 bymeans of a pin 18. A spacer 19holds the upper ends of the bars 16 in spaced apart, parallelrelationship.

,The shovel-supporting means 10 includes a pair of elongated, spacedapart, generally parallel, shovel supporting link members or plates 20which are connected together intermediate the ends thereof by the pin 15which engages the slot 14 in the shank 13. The lower ends of the shovelsupporting link members 20 are connected-to the'shovel 9 by meanspermitting relative adjustment of the shovel, as will hereinafter bedescribed. The upper ends of the shovel supporting link members areconnected to the shank 13 by a pair of short, generally parallel links21. The links 20 and Hand the pin connection 15 co-act to permit theshovel 9 to swing rearwardly and upwardly upon its striking anobstruction.

One end of each of the links 21 is pivoted to the upper end of one ofthe shovel supporting members 24 by means of a pivot pin 22 and theother end of each of the links 21 is pivoted to the flattened shank 13of the staff 8 by a pivot pin 23. The pins 22 are connected to the upperends of the shovel supporting members 20 adjacent the rear edge thereof,whereas the pin 23 is connected to the shank 13 adjacent the forwardedge thereof. The spacing and relative positioning of thepivot pins 22and 23v and the pin 15 ensure the free. dom of movement of the pin 15 inthe slot 14 and are of importance in accomplishing the invention.

The initial thrust of the shovel 9, resulting from contact with anobstruction, is horizontal and is usually approximately perpendicular ornormal to the axis of the post 8. The immediate result is a tendency forthe shovel 9 and supporting plates 20 to revolve about the axis of thepin 15. The upper ends of the shovel supporting plates 20 tend to swingforwardly and produce a horizontal thrust against the pivot pins 22 and23 of the links 21 more or less perpendicular to the axis of the post 8.i

It is desired that this initial thrust of an obstruction against theshovel 9 shall elfect instantly a vertical movement of the shovel 9 andthe shovel supporting members 20, so that the shovel 9 may swingupwardly to pass over the obstruction. Such a vertical movement requiresthat the links 21 be started on a movement about the axis of the pivotpin 23 as a result of the horizontal thrust transmitted through theshovel supporting members 20 as represented by the are 24 (see Fig. 1).To make that movement possible the axis of the pivotal connection 22between the shovel supporting members 20 and the linkage 21 connectingthose members to the shank 13 is located to one side of a plane whichcontains the axis of the pin 15 and the axis of the pivotal connection23 between the linkage 21 and the shank 13, when the pin 15 is in thebottom of the slot 14. This arrangement will avoid the possibility ofthe links 21 locking as-might be the case if the axes of the pivot pins22 were located in the plane of the pivots 15 and 23. It will also benoted that the line of action of the links 21, i. e., the lineconnecting the axes of the pivots 22 and 23 intersects the line ofaction of the link members 20, i. e., a line connecting the axis of thepin 15 Further, this acute angle will decrease in magnitude as theshovel support means is moved rearwardly by the obstruction, with theend result that the shovel will tend,

in. effect, to jump upwardly and backwardly at a rapid rate in the eventan obstruction is encountered. The acute angle relationship of the lineof action of the links 21 and the line of action of the shovelsupportinglinks and the cooperative relationship of these links with thepin and slot connection between the post and the shovel supporting meansassures positive and reliable operation of the device at all times.

The stabilizer or spring-trip means 11 includes a yoke connected at itslower open ends to the shovel supporting members 20 by the pin 15. Theyoke 25 is slidably mounted at its closed upper end on a rod 26 which isaffixed at its lower end to the shank portion 13 of the staff 8, and isadapted to be biased downwardly by a spring 27, interposed between theyoke 25 and a nut 28 adjustably supported on the rod 26. The base 29 ofthe yoke 25 embraces the rod 26 above the latters connection to theshank 13. The rod 26 is preferably welded to the shank 13 so as toextend upwardly and rearwardly with the axis of the rod parallel to thelongitudinal dimension of the slot 14. As will be apparent from Fig. l,the pres sure exerted by the compression spring 27 on the yoke 25 may beadjusted by suitable movement of the nut 28.

The adjustment means 12, for determining the angularity of the shovel 9with regard to the shovel supporting means It comprises a web 30 and arod or eyebolt 31 adjustably connected together by nuts 32. The web 30is welded to the shovel supporting members 20, and its upper end isadapted preferably, but not necessarily, to abut against shoulders 33provided on the shovel supporting-plates 20 adjacent the pin 18. Theinner end of the rod 31 is curved or looped so as to pivotally engage apin 34 which extends between the bars 16. it will also be noted fromFig. 1 that the peripheral edge of the loop portion of the eye-bolt 31is disposed in tangential engagement with the rear of the cultivatortool 17. This particular construction avoids a transferring of all ofthe shock forces imposed on the tool 17 to the pivot pin 34, whichforces might otherwise shear the latter pin. It is seen, therefore, thatthe pin 34 and the web member 30 coact to initially absorb any directshock effect on the tool 17 which may be transmitted to the adjustingmeans 352. Of course, shock forces of sufiicient magnitude on the shovel17 will also result in operation of the spring trip means 11.

During normal operation of the device the stabilizing means 11 will holdthe shovel 9 in the soil below the surface, represented by the line 35in Fig. 1. if the shovel 9 strikes an obstruction as it moves throughthe soil, forward movement of the shovel will stop, and continuingmovement of the cultivator forward will cause the shovel 9 to swingupwardly and rearwardly, as the cultivator continues to move forward, soas to clear the obstruction. This. in effect, produces relative movementbetween the shovel 9 and supporting post 8 from the operative positionshown in full lines in Fig. l to a retracted position shown in dottedlines in the same figure. The amount of relative movement or effectiverearward and upward swing of the shovel 9 will, of course, depend uponhow near to the surface of the ground the obstruction protrudes and uponthe size of the obstruction.

Once the obstruction has been cleared the spring 27 will exert a strongforce tending to restore the shovel 9 automatically to its normaloperative position, and under favorable soil conditions, automaticresetting of the shovels will be effected without any further action bythe operator. Under unfavorable conditions, the operator may find itnecessary to raise the cultivator rigs, but this is the only operationneeded to reset the shovels following operation of the shovel mount.This is a very important feature of the invention, because in the priorstructures it is usually necessary to back the tractor 4 with thecultivator rigs in the ground in order to reset thesupports. Such. aprocedure. is time consuming and not nearly so satisfactory as thesubstantially automatic resetting made possible by the shovel support ofthe present invention.

Variations and modifications in the details of structure and arrangementof the parts may be resorted to within the spirit and coverage of theappended claims.

This application is a division of my copending application Scrial No.695,764 filed September 9, 1946, issued as U. S. Patent No. 2,634,665,April 14, 1953, and entitled Spring-Controlled Shovel Mount forCultivators.

I claim:

1. In an agricultural implement, a shovel support means, a pair ofspaced bars pivotally connected at their upper ends to the lower end ofsaid shovel support means in longitudinally extending relation thereto.a shovel detachably secured to said bars, a web member secured to thelower end of said shovel support means and depending therefrom to aposition below the pivotal connection between said shovel support meansand said bars, adjustable means connecting the lower end of said webmember with said spaced bars, said adjustable means comprising a pinextending between said spaced bars in generally parallel relation to andbelow the axis of said pivotal connection between said bars and saidshovel support means, a generally horizontally extending rod connectedat one end to said pin for vertical swinging movement, and meanssecuring the other end of said rod to said web member in axiallyadjustable relation thereto.

2. In an agricultural implement, an elongated shovel support means, apair of bars fixedly disposed in spaced parallel relation to each other,means pivotally connecting said bars with said shovel support means inlongitudinally extending relation thereto, a shovel detachably securedalong a forward edge of said parallel bars, a web member fixed to saidshovel support means in rearwardly adjacent relation to the pivotalconnection between said shovel support means and said bars, said webmember being disposed in extending relation to said shovel support meansand terminating at a position spaced from the rearward edge of saidparallel bars and below said pivotal connection between the latter andsaid shovel support means, and adjustable means for fixedly positioningsaid parallel bars about the axis of said pivotal connection betweensaid bars and said shovel support means, said adjustable meanscomprising a generally horizontally extending eye-bolt, a pin extendingbetween said parallel bars and through the loop of said eye-bolt at aposition below and in parallel relation to the axis of said pivotalconnection between said bars and said shovel support means, and meansadjustably securing the free end of said eye-bolt to said web member inaxially fixed relation thereto.

3. In an agricultural implement, a shovel support means, a pair ofspaced bars pivotally connected at their upper ends to the lower end ofsaid shovel support means in longitudinally extending relation thereto,a shovel dctachably secured in position along the forward edge of saidbars, a web member secured to the lower end of said shovel support meansand depending therefrom to a position below the pivotal connectionbetween said shovel support means and said bars, and an adjustable meansfor selectively, fixedly positioning said bars about the axis of saidpivotal connection, said adjustable means comprising a generallyhorizontally extending eye-bolt having at one end a looped portionabutting said shovel at a position below said pivotal connection betweensaid bars and said shovel support means, a pin extending between saidspaced bars and through the looped portion of said eye-bolt, and meansadjustably securing the other end 5 of said eye-bolt to said web memberin axially fixed rela- 2,142,455 tion thereto. 2,395,342 2,634,665References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 583680 371,995 Timms Oct. 25, 1887 865,651 Traphagen July 5, 1932 6 NeedhamJan. 3, 1939 Morkoski Feb. 19, 1946 Redetzke Apr. 14, 1953 FOREIGNPATENTS France Nov. 4, 1924

